The Life & Times of John Wheater(Farnborough, Wokingham, Bristol, Toronto,
Farnham)

John Wheater 15Sep19
(this page updated 03Nov06)

Motorcycles, mine and others.

First,
here
is a link to Mr Chadwick's excellent site, which includes
a brief history of every British manufacturer.

And, now, a look at the motorcycles I've owned, over the years 1953 to 2004.
This is a long list, gosh; but I must abjure, with feelings of inferiority, any
claim to be a motorcyclist. Such a claim looks superficially feasible:
I've been to the Isle of Man four times by motorcycle (Honda 400: 79 TT,
BMW R75/5: missed Manx GP,
Velocette Viper: part of 98 TT with Bob Cox, and Velocette Viper:98 Manx).
And, I rebuilt my Matchless G12 engine, did the forks on my AJS 18S, stripped
& rebuilt (then replaced!) my BMW gearbox.
And so on...

But, ... (complex analysis to follow one day) ...

And now, the list:

1953: A 1930s Royal Enfield 150cc 4-stroke, £6.

A long gap until 1960: A 1950s Lambretta 150, £100?.

A long gap until 1966: A 1959? Matchless G12, £80.

1965-76: A new 1965 Vespa 90, £?.

1965-76: A pre-unit 1968? Triumph Bonneville, £?.

1965-76: A new 1975? Honda CB400 twin, £?.

1965-76: A 1953 AJS 18s, £500?.

1976: A new 1976 Triumph Meriden Bonneville 750, £800?.

1978: A Ducati V twin (very briefly), £800?.

1978: A 1972? BMW R75/5, £800?.

1982-96: A new Honda 500 single, £1200?.

1982-96: A 1970s? MZ 125, £?.

1982-96: A 1970s? MZ 250, £?.

1982-96: A 1972? BMW R65, £500?.

1982-96: A newish, perfect BMW R65, £700?.

1982-96: A new Enfield India 500, £2,000?.

1996: A new BMW K100RS, £10,000?.

1997: A new Enfield India 350, £2,000?.

1997: A 1967 Velocette Viper, restored, £3,000.

1999: A new 1999 Honda VTR1000 (stolen), £5,000.

2000: Another new 2000 Honda VTR1000, £5,000.

2003: A 1990 Honda C90, £450.

2004: A 1998 Suzuki Burgman AN250, £1500.

2006: A new 2006 Yamaha Majesty 400, £4500.

Good grief, all those bikes, and all that money - still, easy come easy go,
as we contract programmers say.

And now (July 2004), at the age of 71, I'm looking round on eBay for a
middle-weight in addition to the Honda 90, which I see really as a
push-bike replacement (although I did ride it down from Scotland,
with an overnight stop at Amy's).
(August 2004)
I 'won' the Suzuki above on eBay, picked it up 5-8-04, rode it from
Halifax to Glasgow, then two weeks later Glasgow to Farnham
in one 430-mile wet day.
It's a new thing for me, the 'mega-scooter', in fact I was hoping at
the end to be outbid. But now I find it quite compulsive, 1200 miles
in 20 days. It readily does 70, and a bit more, though 65 is good
cruising. The 400 version must be really quite fast.
(November 2006)
Enamoured of the Yamaha, brisk & reliable, good mpg, good handbrake.
Now these
scoots are getting so heavy, a reverse gear would be nice.